January 11, 2013: The Grim 11th Anniversary of the Internment Camp at Guantánamo

Almost exactly four months ago today, a young Yemeni man cruelly detained for more than ten years without any charge died at Guantánamo. His name was Adnan Latif, and he should clearly never have been imprisoned in the first place. While there has been no independent investigation into the cause of his death, it is clear that Guantánamo killed him. And it is clear that Guantánamo will extinguish more lives if President Obama does not rectify his broken promise to shut it down.

Today I want to honor Adnan’s life by reading a piece of a poem he wrote while trapped at Guantánamo. But before I do so, I want to also tell you about one of CCR’s clients, Mohammed al-Hamiri, who is Adnan’s close friend and countryman, and who remains imprisoned at Guantánamo through a similar cruel twist of fate.

Both Mohammed and Adnan suffered grave injuries as children that left them with cranial fractures and severe chronic pain. Both Mohammed and Adnan left their countries seeking affordable medical care, and both Mohammed and Adnan were arrested by Pakistani police and turned over to the United States for bounty. Mohammed was just 19 or 20 years old when he was sent to Guantánamo over a decade ago, and like Adnan, he has been cleared for release by the Obama administration.

But will Mohammed, unlike Adnan, be released before it’s too late? Will there be justice for the 166 men who are languishing at Guantánamo? Will President Obama end the collective punishment of Adnan’s nearly 90 compatriots there by lifting his politically expedient but morally bankrupt ban on all transfers to Yemen?… I think the answer resides in us, in each of you. We know that power concedes nothing without a demand, so it is up to us to press on, to not give up, and to together make Guantánamo, unjust detentions, and U.S belligerence more broadly a thing of the past.